Citizen Science for Cyclades Paths

"CITIZEN SCIENCE IN THE REMOTE CYCLADES: LOCAL PATHS TO CHANGE" IS A CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE ISLANDS OF SIKINOS AND THIRASIA IN CYCLADES.

SciCo in collaboration with the Cyclades Preservation Fund undertakes the guidance and support of students in secondary education, who will create a mobile application, aiming at mapping paths and points of interest in Sikinos and Thirasia islands. Through this Citizen Science program, hikers and visitors contribute to data collection and are closer to scientific research.

Students get closer to STEM Education as they are trained in gathering the necessary information about island trails and in developing an application through MIT's AppInventor. Accredited SciCo teachers will be visiting the islands in order to provide both students and teachers with the necessary support.

The project also includes field work, through hiking on the islands by all groups involved (students, teachers, participants), in order to determine the routes of the app. The locations and points of interest which will be added to the application (antiquities, churches, natural resources, etc.) will be identified and the markings of the paths will be checked. Signs with the selected points of interest (Island Gems) will also be added to the application. Upon completion, the application will be re-evaluated for validity and functionality.

Throughout the program, the wider community will be actively involved in both providing information about the elements that will be included in the application and in promoting the application when it is completed. As the application is used by visitors, they will be able to send data and photos in "real time". In this way, it will be possible to collect data for each path’s condition, in order to ensure that the necessary actions have been made, such as cleaning the trash, changing the signs, etc. Another important result will be the observation of biodiversity, i.e., the flora and fauna of a specific geographical location and time.